The Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS) and is a national collection that has:

a set of nationally significant data items or pieces of information that are collected in all Australian jurisdictions; and

an agreed method of collection and transmission.

The purpose of the DS NMDS collection is to facilitate the annual collation of nationally comparable data about disability support services provided under the National Disability Agreement (NDA), and to obtain reliable, consistent data with minimal load on the disability services field. Under the NDA, the Disability Administrators in all Australian jurisdictions are responsible for ensuring 'that DS NMDS information will be comparable across all jurisdictions and years'.

Services within the scope of the collection are those for which funding has been provided, during the specified period, by a government organisation operating under the NDA. Therefore, if a service type outlet did not receive funding for the provision of NDA services during the reporting year (i.e. its NDA funding dollars for the financial year are zero), then details of this outlet should not be included in the data collection.

A funded agency may receive funding from multiple sources. Where a funded agency is unable to differentiate service users and/or staff according to funding source (i.e. NDA or other), they are asked to provide details of all service users and staff (for each service type).

Most agencies funded under the NDA are asked to provide information about:

each of the service types they are funded to provide (i.e. service type outlets they operate);

all service users who received support over a specified reporting period; and

the DS NMDS service type(s) the service user received.

The level of information a funded agency is asked to provide varies according to the particular service type (i.e. for each service type outlet).

Where services are provided to groups or families (e.g. 2.02, 2.04, or 2.05), details are only requested about the service user who is eligible for services, not their family or other group members. If a family member/carer receives respite services, limited information about the carer is required, such as the carer’s relationship to the service user and the carer’s age group.

Table 1: Information requested according to DS NMDS service type

Service type classification

Service type outlet—details required(a)

Service user—details required(a)

Services received by each service user in the reporting period—details required(a)

Accommodation support

1.01 Large residential/institution (>20 people)—24 hour care

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

1.02 Small residential/institution (7–20 people)—24 hour care

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

1.03 Hostels—generally not 24 hour care

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

1.04 Group homes (< 7 people)

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

1.05 Attendant care/personal care

All

All

All

1.06 In-home accommodation support

All

All

All

1.07 Alternative family placement

All

All

All

1.08 Other accommodation support

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

Community support

2.01 Therapy support for individuals

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

2.02 Early childhood intervention

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

2.03 Behaviour/specialist intervention

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

2.04 Counselling (individual/family/group)

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

2.05 Regional resource and support teams

All

All

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

2.06 Case management, local coordination and development

All

All (except for community development activity within this service type)

All (except for community development activity within this service type)

2.07 Other community support

All

All (except for community development activity within this service type)

All (except for data items on hours received— items 17e–f)

Community access

3.01 Learning and life skills development

All

All

All

3.02 Recreation/holiday programs

All

Linkage key elements only (items 2a–2e)

Items 17a–17b (service start date and date service last received)

3.03 Other community access

All

All

All

Respite

4.01 Own home respite

All

All

All

4.02 Centre-based respite/respite homes

All

All

All

4.03 Host family respite/peer support respite

All

All

All

4.04 Flexible respite

All

All

All

4.05 Other respite

All

All

All

Employment

5.01 Open employment

All

All (except for carer –primary status, residency status, age group – items 12b,c,e)

All (except for data items on hours received—items 17e–f)

5.02 Supported employment

All

All (except for carer –primary status, residency status, age group – items 12b,c,e)

The data collection is based around the concept of a 'service type outlet', each of which provides only one service type from a discrete location. A funded agency may be funded to provide one or more service types through one or more service type outlets. For example, an agency may be provided under the NDA to provide residential accommodation and respite services from one location or funded to provide group homes in three separate locations. A separate service type outlet form is completed for each service type the agency is funded to provide. If a service user receives more than one service type in the reporting period, a separate service user form is completed for each service type received.

Data are collected, usually by agencies, for each service type outlet they operate. These data are turned into estimated counts of service users by using a statistical linkage key.

Reporting period:

For the DS NMDS, the reporting period is the financial year e.g. 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015.

Funded agencies are asked to record key information about service users on an ongoing basis, so that they can transmit the required information to their jurisdiction. Most jurisdictions require information to be transmitted at the end of each financial year quarter. Some only require information to be transmitted at the end of a financial year. At the end of the financial year, each jurisdiction is required to provide collated data to the AIHW.

Reference week:

For most jurisdictions, the annual reference week is the 7-day week preceding the end of the financial year (i.e. 24 June to 30 June).

For Victoria, the annual reference week is the 7-day week preceding the end of May (i.e. 25 May to 31 May).

For Western Australia, the annual reference week is the 7-day week beginning 21 May (i.e. 21 May to 27 May).

Privacy:

DS NMDS collections conducted in each jurisdiction must comply with Commonwealth privacy legislation, relevant state and territory privacy legislation, and established privacy and data principles.

Metadata items in this Data Set Specification

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), the two data items forming this cluster are collected under one question on 'support needs'. This question records information about a person’s need for help or supervision in their overall life and, as such, may not be directly relevant to the service being provided.

The need must be due to the person’s disability, and should be ongoing (have lasted or be expected to last for 6 months or more). It must relate to the extent of need over and above that which would usually be expected due to their age, i.e. it should be evaluated in relation to a person of the same age without a disability.

Where support needs vary markedly over time, e.g. episodic psychiatric disability, please record the level of support needed during the reference week.

Mapping to International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) codes:

DS NMDS

ICF

a) Self-care

Self-care (d510-d599)

b) Mobility

Mobility (d410-d499)

c) Communication

Communication (d310-d399)

d) Interpersonal interactions and relationships

Interpersonal interactions and relationships (d710-d799)

e) Learning, applying knowledge and general tasks and demands

Learning and applying knowledge (d110-d199) and General tasks and demands (d210-d299)

For the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS) the following rules also apply.

Date of birth

If the actual date of birth is unknown, estimate the year of birth, enter 01/01 as the day and month, and tick the date of birth estimated flag (item 2d ‘Birth date estimate flag’) (see Disability Services NMDS 2014–15 data guide).

In the DS NMDS, if the age of the person is known, the age of the person should be used to derive the person’s year of birth. If the person’s age is not known, an estimate of the person’s age should be used to calculate an estimated year of birth. An actual or estimated year of birth should then be converted to an estimated date of birth according to the following convention: 01/01/estimated year of birth. Where the date of birth is estimated, this should be indicated when the data is submitted using the date estimate indicator.

It is important that service type outlets do not record estimated dates of birth by using ‘00’ for the day, month or year as this would not be considered a valid date by the system processing the data.

Date of birth estimated

For the DS NMDS, a date of birth estimate flag is collected in place of the "Date—accuracy indicator, code AAA".

1=‘Yes’ (date of birth estimated).

Sex

Code 3 Intersex or indeterminate is not used in the DS NMDS collection.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data element is collected twice.

The first occurrence refers to the postcode of the location of the service type outlet address and not the postal address. If the service type outlet is provided in the person’s home, the postcode of the service base from which the provider operates is to be entered, not that of the person. If recreation services are provided in various locations, the postcode of the service base from which the provider operates is to be entered.

The second occurrence refers to the postcode of a service user's usual residence ('usual' means 4 or more days per week on average). This is intended to capture the postcode of the 'geographic location' of a person, not their postal address postcode. The service user’s postcode must relate to their selected ‘residential setting’.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data item refers to the number of hours of support received by the service user for the National Disability Agreement (NDA) service type. It is collected twice within the DS NMDS:

the number of hours of support received by a service user for a service type in the 7-day reference week (i.e. for the week preceding the end of the reporting period);and

the number of hours of support received by a service user for a service type for a typical 7-day week.

This data item is only collected for service type activity codes of 1.05-1.07, 2.06, 3.01, 3.03 and 4.01-4.05.

The total hours reported should be rounded up to the nearest whole hour.

Where less than one hour was received, agencies may record ‘900’.

If a service type outlet is funded to provide service type 2.06 Case management, local coordination and development, the following rules apply for calculating Hours of assistance:

hours of assistance received by service users in terms of time spent on their behalf coordinating, managing or arranging brokerage of other services for service users should be reported;

hours of assistance received by service users in terms of actual services delivered, that have been arranged, purchased or brokered by a service type outlet (as part of providing service type 2.06) should not be reported;

If a service type outlet sub-contracts the provision of part or all of a service type (other than 2.06) it is funded to provide to another agency, then it is responsible for providing relevant details about the sub-contracted activity (e.g. in-home accommodation support provider sub-contracting the provision of some in-home accommodation support to another agency, which may or may not be funded under the NDA). Hours of assistance received that are sub-contracted to another agency should be included by the service type outlet that has done the sub-contracting, and should not be reported by the agency that has been sub-contracted (to deliver the services) by the service type outlet.

Note: The concept of a typical week may not apply to some service users. In these cases service type outlets may calculate this data element as an average of the actual hours received by the service user over the reporting period. This item may be collected in one of two ways:

as an average of the actual hours received by this service user in a typical week (over the reporting period). That is, this item is derived from the 'total hours received during the reporting period'; OR

the service user's usual or typical weekly pattern of support while receiving your service in the reporting period. This enables service type outlets to indicate whether or not the reference week was typical.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data item refers to the person's main informal carer—the person who provides the most significant care and assistance related to the service user's capacity to remain living in their current environment. It is recognised that two or more people may equally share the caring role (e.g. mother and father) however, for the purposes of this collection, characteristics are only requested for one of these carers.

A carer is considered to be co-resident if they usually live in the same household: ‘usually’ being 4 or more days per week on average.

This data element should only be reported in relation to service users who have an informal carer.

DSS specific information:

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this refers to the person’s main informal carer—the person who provides the most significant care and assistance related to the service user’s capacity to remain living in their current environment. It is recognised that two or more people may equally share the caring role (e.g. mother and father) however, for the purposes of this collection, characteristics are only requested for one of these carers.

If a person has more than one carer (e.g. a spouse and a son), the coding response to carer relationship should relate to the carer who provides the most significant care and assistance related to the person’s capacity to remain living in their current environment (i.e. the main carer). The expressed views of the service user and/or their carer or significant other should be considered to be the primary or principal carer in this regard.

Code 9 (other female relative), allows for the wide range of family members who may be involved in a caring role with the service user. This code therefore includes the female family members not listed in the codes elsewhere (e.g. aunts, nieces, female cousins, grandmothers, step mother, step daughters and so on).

Similarly, code 10 (other male relative) covers the range of male family members who may act as carers. This code includes the male family members not listed in the codes elsewhere (e.g. uncles, nephews, male cousins, grandfathers, male grandchildren, step father, step sons and so on).

For the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), the 10 most frequently reported countries of birth are listed on data collection forms to simplify data collection and minimise coding load on service type outlets and funding departments. Where the country of birth is known but is not specified in the classification below, (i.e., is ‘other country’), funded agencies should specify it on primary data collection forms. These will then be coded by funding departments to the appropriate Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC) code.

For the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), the codes used are:

1 Yes

2 No

3 Not known

Code 3 ‘Not known’ should only be recorded when it has not been possible for the service user or their carer/family/advocate to provide the information (i.e. they have been asked but do not know).

For the purposes of the DS NMDS, all employment services provided by the Australian Government through ‘case-based funding’ are considered to be provided on an individualised funding basis. Code 1 ‘Yes’ for this data item if the service type outlet is providing service type ‘5.01—Open employment’ or ‘5.02 —Supported employment’.

If a service user receives multiple services from a funded agency, and is funded to receive these services from an individual funding package as well as another funding mechanism (e.g. block funding) then code 1 ‘Yes’ should be recorded for this data item.

Examples of individualised funding include:

Western Australia—Intensive Family Support funding

Queensland—Adult Lifestyle Support Packages, family support programs and post-school programs

Australian Government-funded programs—Case Based Funding (CBF) and Futures for Young Adults (FFYA)

Australian Capital Territory—Individual Support Packages

Victoria—Futures for Young Adults (FFYA), Individual Support Packages (ISP)

Tasmania—Individual Support Program (ISP) and Supporting Individual Pathways

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data item refers to whether someone, such as a family member, friend or neighbour, has been identified as providing regular and sustained care and assistance to the person requiring support.

Informal carers include those people who receive a pension or benefit for their caring role but do not include paid or volunteer carers organised by formal services. This includes a host family or foster care situation where the family is paid to care for a service user.

A carer is someone who provides a significant amount of care and/or assistance to the person on a regular and sustained basis. ‘Regular’ and ‘sustained’ in this instance means that care or assistance has to be ongoing, or likely to be ongoing for at least 6 months.

Excluded from the definition of carers are paid workers or volunteers organised by formal services (including paid staff in funded group homes).

It is recognised that two or more people may equally share the caring role (e.g. mother and father) however, for the purposes of this collection, characteristics are only requested for one of these carers.

It is also recognised that the roles of parent and carer, particularly in the case of children, are difficult to distinguish. Carers of children may consider they are a carer (as well as a parent) if they provide more care to their child than would be typical of the care provided to a child of the same age without a disability.

This data item is purely descriptive of a service user’s circumstances. It is not intended to reflect whether the carer is considered by the funded agency capable of undertaking the caring role.

In line with this, the expressed views of the service user and/or their carer should be used as the basis of determining whether the service user is recorded as having a carer or not.

When asking a service user about the availability of a carer, it is important to recognise that a carer does not always live with the person for whom they care. That is, a person providing significant care and assistance to the person may not live with the person in order to be called a carer.

The Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS) defines ‘usual’ as where the person usually resides for four or more days per week on average. If it is difficult to determine the person’s ‘usual’ residential setting for the reporting period, the setting the person resided in during the reference week, and their living arrangements in that setting, should be reported.

People living in residential settings such as group homes and hostels may consider that they live alone or live with others. The expressed views of the service user should be used to determine whether they live alone or with others.

Code 3 'Lives with others' includes sharing with friends or a carer (where the carer is not a family member).

In the Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data item is only answered for service users who have stopped receiving services from the service type outlet and a reason for cessation of service must be recorded. Otherwise it is left blank.

DSS specific information:

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this refers to the date on which the person ceased to be a service user of the service type outlet (STO). It is only reported for service users who have ceased receiving services from the STO, otherwise it is left blank.

A service user is considered to leave a service when either:

the service user ends the support relationship with the service type outlet; or

the service type outlet ends the support relationship with the service user.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this refers to the date on which a person began to recieve support from a service type outlet.

A service is a support activity delivered to a person, in accord with the National Disability Agreement (NDA). Services within the scope of the collection are those for which funding has been provided, during the specified period, by a government organisation operating under the NDA.

A service user is considered to have started receiving a NDA service type once they have been judged as eligible for the service type and have actually received support within that service type. Support may include assessment processes once the service user has been accepted as eligible for the service type. However it does not include assessment where assessment is for eligibility or for a place on a waiting list. Support does not generally include requests for information or phone queries.

At times, an outlet may only provide the service user with one-off assistance. For example, a service user may only require respite care on one occasion. Where this assistance is funded under the NDA, the general rule is that all service users details should be recorded as required for that service type. If the service user is not expected to use the service outlet again, an exit date and appropriate main reason for service cessation should be reported.

If a service user formally exits a service and then ‘re-enters’ a service, an exit date should be reported and a new service start date should be reported.

Service users who commence services after 1 October 2002, should have their actual commencement date recorded (i.e. the date this service type was first received by the service user from the service type outlet).

Service users who commenced services prior to October 2002 should either be recorded as commencing the service type on:

their known service start date, for example, a service user starting on 2 September 2002 may be recorded as 02092002;

an estimate of their service start date by recording ‘0101’ for the day and month and estimating the year. For example, if a service user has been receiving support from a service type outlet for about 5 years, the outlet would record the Service start date as 01011997’; or

on 1 October 2002 (i.e. 01102002). This option is used if the start date is unknown or cannot be recorded for some other reason.

In the Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data item is only answered for service users who have stopped receiving services from the service type outlet and a service exit date must be recorded. Otherwise it is left blank.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this refers to the date the person last received a service from the service type outlet during the reporting period. It does not indicate the date that they exited the service, or the date in which the service user's form was completed.

This item may be used as an indicator of the 'active' or 'inactive' status of service users, for a particular reporting period. It can also be used to calculate the length of time service users received a National Disability Agreement (NDA) service type for those who have not exited the program and so not have an exit date (end date).

National Disability Agreement (NDA) funding data should relate to the most recent financial year. This data element needs to be reported for all services funded under the NDA, both those delivered by government and non-government providers. Data provided should be consistent with that provided to the Productivity Commission for the NDA indicators, but should also include expenditure on specialist psychiatric disability services.

Where possible NDA funding data should be linked to service type outlet identification numbers. Where the funding information is not available at the service type outlet level, funding departments are requested to allocate the funding information to broad service group level. Administrative expenditure and capital grants are to be provided on separate lines.

For example, funding should be allocated at least against the following:

In the Disability Services NMDS, SLA is optionally collected in relation to the service type outlet. It refers to a Numeric 4- or 5-digit Australian SLA based on the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics classification.

Hours worked by paid staff refers to the actual total hours worked by all paid staff for a service type outlet, not full-time equivalents or rostered weekly hours. It includes hours worked by paid staff on behalf of the service type outlet both directly delivered to service users, and indirectly to service users (e.g. indirect hours such as related committee meetings).

Paid staff are defined as those who are employed on a permanent, part-time or casual basis under an employment or other contract (including contract staff).

This data element is collected twice within the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS):

the actual total hours worked by all paid staff for a service type outlet in the 7-day reference week (i.e. for the week preceding the end of the reporting period); and

actual total hours worked by all paid staff for a service type outlet for a typical 7-day week.

For agencies with multiple service type outlets (and where staff hours per service type outlet are not known), all staff should be apportioned across service type outlets. To apportion staff across different service type outlets it is recommended that agencies:

use fortnightly rosters as a starting point

apportion total staff hours across funded service types

divide this figure by two to get weekly staff hours for the week preceding the end of the reporting period.

A funded agency may receive funding from multiple sources, however for DS NMDS purposes, only those services provided using NDA funds should be recorded. Where a funded agency is unable to differentiate all data according to funding source (i.e. NDA or other), they are asked to provide full details (in this case, staff hours) regardless of funding source.

If the service type outlet is funded to provide service type 2.06 Case management, local coordination and development, the following rules for calculating staff hours apply:

record staff hours relating to the case coordination/management/brokerage activities undertaken (including administrative time, board member time etc. as above)

do not record the staff hours for the agencies who provide any services arranged, purchased or brokered by your service type outlet as part of providing service type 2.06

see also data items 17e–f ‘hours received’ per service user, as similar rules apply to the calculation of hours received by service users.

If the service type outlet sub contracts the provision of part or all of a service type (other than 2.06) they are funded to provide to another agency:

the service type outlet who is sub-contracting another agency is responsible for providing relevant details about the sub contracted activity (e.g. in-home accommodation support provider sub contracting the provision of some in-home accommodation support to another agency, which may or may not be funded under the NDA)

the service type outlet who is sub-contracting another agency should include an estimate of the staff hours sub contracted in this way with the staff hours allocation for their service type outlet (and the sub contractor outlet should not include these hours in their service type outlet return, if they are also included in the DS NMDS)

see also data items 17e–f ‘hours received’ per service user, as similar rules apply to the calculation of hours received by service users.

Hours worked by volunteer/unpaid staff refers to the actual total hours worked by staff, volunteers or students and others who do not receive payment for the work which they perform on behalf of the service type outlet. It collects hours worked, not full-time equivalents or rostered weekly hours. It includes hours worked on behalf of the service type outlet both directly delivered to service users, and indirectly to service users (e.g. indirect hours such as related committee meetings).

This data element is collected twice within the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS):

the actual total hours worked by all volunteer/unpaid staff for a service type outlet in the 7-day reference week (i.e. for the week preceding the end of the reporting period); and

actual total hours worked by all volunterr/unpaid staff for a service type outlet for a typical 7-day week.

Staff hours should be rounded up to the nearest whole hour.

Inclusions and exclusions for the calculation of unpaid/volunteer staff hours:

staff hours normally worked in positions that are currently vacant staff hours allocated to non-National Disability Agreement (NDA) service users.

For agencies with multiple service type outlets (and where staff hours per service type outlet are not known), all staff should be apportioned across service type outlets. To apportion staff across different service type outlets it is recommended that agencies:

use fortnightly rosters as a starting point apportion total staff hours across funded service types

divide this figure by two to get weekly staff hours for the week preceding the end of the reporting period.

A funded agency may receive funding from multiple sources, however for DS NMDS purposes, only those services provided using NDA funds should be recorded. Where a funded agency is unable to differentiate all data according to funding source (i.e. NDA or other), they are asked to provide full details (in this case, staff hours) regardless of funding source.

If the service type outlet is funded to provide service type 2.06 Case management, local coordination and development, the following rules for calculating staff hours apply:

record staff hours relating to the case coordination/management/brokerage activities undertaken (including administrative time, board member time etc. as above)

do not record the staff hours for the agencies who provide any services arranged, purchased or brokered by your service type outlet as part of providing service type 2.06

see also data items 17e–f ‘hours received’ per service user, as similar rules apply to the calculation of hours received by service users.

If the service type outlet sub contracts the provision of part or all of a service type (other than 2.06) they are funded to provide to another agency:

the service type outlet who is sub-contracting another agency is responsible for providing relevant details about the sub contracted activity (e.g. in-home accommodation support provider sub contracting the provision of some in-home accommodation support to another agency, which may or may not be funded under the NDA)

the service type outlet who is sub-contracting another agency should include an estimate of the staff hours sub contracted in this way with the staff hours allocation for their service type outlet (and the sub contractor outlet should not include these hours in their service type outlet return, if they are also included in the DS NMDS)

see also data items 17e–f ‘hours received’ per service user, as similar rules apply to the calculation of hours received by service users.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data element is collected for each service type outlet, except those of service type activity types 7.01–7.04 (other support).

It refers to the number of service users receiving services under the National Disability Agreement (NDA) of a particular service type. The number of people who received a service during the whole reporting period is required, not just those who received a service in the reference week.

The total number of people receiving this service type indicated in response to this data item will usually be equal to the number of Service User Forms completed by the service type outlet. In some cases ‘number of service users’ may be greater than the number of Service User Forms. This may be because of service users who have not consented for their information to be transmitted as part of the DS NMDS; they should still be included in the ‘number of service users’.

For service type outlets, except 6.01–6.05, the service type outlet must have allocated some of its resources (more than 15 minutes) to the person during the reporting period, for instance to a person residing in agency-operated accommodation, attending respite care, or attending a recreation service. Service users should not be counted if they have only made requests for information, minor phone queries etc.

Service type outlets 6.01–6.05 should count the following:

6.01 (Advocacy)—number of people who have received advocacy services in the reporting period.

6.02 (Information/referral)—number of people making a request for information or referral.

6.03 (Combined information/advocacy)—as for 6.01 and 6.02.

6.04 (Mutual support/self-help groups)—number of people attending sessions (i.e. if an individual attends a group session every Wednesday in the reporting period, please count each person only once over the reporting period).

6.05 (Alternative formats of communication)—estimated number of people accessing the output from the service.

It may not always be feasible to count the actual number of service users receiving services from service type outlets 6.01–6.05. Where this is not possible, service type outlets are asked to estimate the number of service users accessing the service. For example, a radio station funded under the NDA (6.05) should estimate the number of people who listen to the radio station. Where there is a number of people potentially receiving a 6.01–6.05 service simultaneously (e.g. an interpreter at a conference), estimate the number of people that are benefiting from the service (e.g. how many people actually need the interpreter). If this is not possible, all people present should be counted as service users.

A funded agency may receive funding from multiple sources—however for DS NMDS purposes, only those services provided using NDA funds should be recorded. Where a funded agency is unable to differentiate all data according to funding source (i.e. NDA or other), they are asked to provide details of all service users and staff (for each service type). For example, if a service type outlet providing early childhood intervention is partly funded by your agency, through donations or fund raising, and partly by NDA funds, please count all service users who receive this service during the reporting period, unless your accounting and staffing methods enable reporting separately.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data element refers to the number of days per week the service type outletusually operates. It is asking about the amount of time the service type outlet is generally open for service provision to service users, not about the amount of time a service type outlet is staffed.

A service type outlet is considered to be operating whenever service is provided to service users, e.g. if the service type outlet is open for 4 days per week for service provision to service users and 1 day per week for management/administration then the service type outlet is considered to usually operate 4 days per week.

Service type outlets of activity type 7.01–7.04 may record ‘90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a day’), or, if possible and they wish to do so, they may record the actual number of days per week of operation.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data element refers to the number of hours per day the service type outletusually operates. It is asking about the amount of time the service type outlet is generally open for service provision to service users, not about the amount of time a service type outlet is staffed.

A service type outlet is considered to be operating whenever service is open to service users (e.g. if the service type outlet is staffed between the hours of 9am–5pm but is only open for service users between 10am–3pm, it is considered to usually operate for 5 hours per day).

Service type outlets that provide facility-based accommodation (e.g. group homes) should record their hours as 24 per day if the service users reside in the facility on an ongoing basis and can access the facility at any time, even though the facility may not be staffed during parts of the day. In contrast, if service users are not able to stay in the residential facility during certain hours, the facility is not considered to be open or operating during these hours.

Service type outlets of activity type 7.01–7.04 may record ‘90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a day’), or, if possible and they wish to do so, they may record the actual number of days per week of operation.

In the Disability Services Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data element refers to the number of weeks the service type outletusually operates. It is asking about the amount of time the service type outlet is generally open for service provision to service users, not about the amount of time a service type outlet is staffed.

A service type outlet is considered to be operating whenever service is provided to service users e.g. if the service type outlet closes for only 2 weeks over the Christmas period it is considered to usually operate for 50 weeks per year.

This data element is seeking information about the usual weeks of operation of a service type outlet. For example, if a service type outlet received funding from September but intends to operate for 52 weeks per year, ‘52’ is recorded for this data item, and ‘No’ is recorded for the full financial year of National Disability Agreement (NDA) funding data item.

Service type outlet should record ‘90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a year’) if the service type outlet does not have a regular pattern of operation; for example, a recreation/holiday program which is offered only if there are sufficient numbers (i.e. program offered on demand).

Service type outlets of activity types 7.01–7.04 may record ’90’ (‘no regular pattern of operation through a year’), or, if it is possible and they wish to do so, they may record the actual number of weeks of operation.

In the Disability Services National Minimum Data Set (DS NMDS), this data element is reported by funding departments in relation to all service type outlets. Service type outlets deliver a particular National Disability Agreement (NDA) service type at or from a discrete location.